By Deb­o­rah Son­tag, New York Times

The Hait­ian gov­ern­ment and the United Nations are estab­lish­ing a joint com­mis­sion of inquiry into the Jan. 19 killings of a dozen or more inmates at a prison in Les Cayes, Haiti.

Pres­i­dent René Pré­val of Haiti asked for the United Nations’ help in inves­ti­gat­ing the episode, said David Wimhurst, a United Nations spokesman. The request came after an arti­cle in The New York Times on Sun­day that was an inves­ti­ga­tion into the shoot­ing deaths.

The Times’s inves­ti­ga­tion indi­cated that the Hait­ian police fatally shot unarmed inmates after storm­ing the prison at the end of an upris­ing. The evi­dence found by The Times also sug­gested that local author­i­ties then sought to cover up the use of lethal force; many bod­ies were buried in an unmarked grave, and the sur­viv­ing detainees’ blood-stained cloth­ing was burned. Author­i­ties attrib­uted the killings, which this week was a focus of the Hait­ian news media, to an inmate who escaped and has disappeared.

The inves­ti­ga­tion will super­sede one that had been under­taken by United Nations officials.

Also this week, the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee approved a post-earthquake aid pack­age that would give Haiti $2 bil­lion over two years. Included in the bill, which now goes before the full Sen­ate, is a con­di­tion attached by Sen­a­tor Patrick J. Leahy, Demo­c­rat of Ver­mont, that no money be appro­pri­ated for Haiti’s jus­tice reform efforts until “a thor­ough, cred­i­ble and trans­par­ent inves­ti­ga­tion” of the “extra­ju­di­cial killings of pris­on­ers by Hait­ian police” in Les Cayes has been com­pleted and until Haiti has taken “appro­pri­ate action.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/world/americas/27haiti.html